"Though
Wyler generally liked to stick to the script, the location shooting allowed a
great deal of room for spontaneity in order to take advantage of any wonderful
new discoveries he happened to come across. “Filming in Rome in those days was
marvelous,” said Wyler. “There were practically no automobiles, only Vespas. For
every scene I could have had six locations, and each one was better than the
other.” When he wasn’t making use of the beautiful Roman outdoors, Wyler used
the newly renovated Cinecitta studios to shoot interiors.

A good example of this spontaneity while shooting is the film’s famous scene
that takes place at the Boca Della Verita (Mouth of Truth), an ancient stone
monument at the entrance of an old church. The legend of it said that if a liar
put his hand inside the mouth, he would lose the hand. A truthful person,
however, would have nothing to fear. Wyler said that he had gone sightseeing one
day with his daughters to the monument and played a joke on them, sticking his
hand into the mouth and pulling it out with his hand hidden under his sleeve.
The joke terrified and delighted them. “So I thought there must be a place for
this in the picture,” said Wyler. “Especially since it’s a story of two people
who lie to each other.”

As with Sunset Boulevard, Paramount have decided to re-releases
this in a 2-disc 'Centennial Edition'. While the original DVD of
Roman Holiday didn't have the extensive chroma of Sunset Boulevard,
it did have some - still visible in the captures below (see the sky behind
the Vespa ride as one of the more prominent examples of color
infiltration.) There was definitely room for improvement for this
transfer.

By lowering compression with no large supplements
sharing the dual-layered first disc - the feature image quality
improves... perhaps not as dramatically as Sunset Boulevard,
but similarly the contrast gets more pure (darker blacks and brighter
whites.) So, it does look better - some scenes more significantly than
other - but DVD-o-philes are still puzzling - why not put Roman
Holiday, and the other upcoming Centennial Edition classics, to
1080P? As this site is constantly showcasing that Blu-ray can dramatically
improve image quality - far beyond the limitations of SD-DVD.

Audio - we have the same acceptable
mono audio but a Spanish DUD has been included
and likewise optional French and Spanish subtitles along with the
previous versions English.

Extras have been expanded upon but we also lose the
15-minute Edith Head, The Paramount Years' replacing it
with Behind the Gates - a 5 minute short on costuming for the
film. We get three new Audrey Hepburn featurettes - Audrey Hepburn :
The Paramount Years (29:51), Remembering Audrey (12:10) with
her son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer. and Rome With a Princess (8:54),
but what I enjoyed the most (and wished it was longer) was the 12 minute
Dalton Trumbo - From 'A' List to Black-list - an excellent
surface piece on the writer and blacklisting in general with some keen
input.

So, yes this is better in every area and, at
present, the definitive home theater representation for Roman Holiday.
Those keen on this classic and Audrey Hepburn (for the supplements)
should indulge. Others may wish to wait, and hope, for a high-definition
release one day.